Duke University has backed away from a plan to have Muslim students chant a weekly call to prayer from its iconic Duke Chapel bell tower, according to
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Duke University has backed away from a plan to have Muslim students chant a weekly call to prayer from its iconic Duke Chapel bell tower, according to a news release on the university’s website. The decision followed intense criticism by the Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham.
The younger Mr. Graham on Wednesday called on donors and alumni to withhold financial support over the plan. “As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
In its statement, Duke said Muslim students would instead gather in the quadrangle outside the chapel. The university first publicized its plan earlier this week.
“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant, and welcoming campus for all of its students,” said the university’s vice president for public affairs, Michael Schoenfeld, in the release. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”
